My Review of Hairspray (1988)

 

Written And Directed by John Waters 

Iggy: "Would you swim in an integrated swimming pool?"

Tracy: "I sure would, Iggy. I'm a modern kind of girl, I'm all for integration."

After so many transgressive movies, could John Waters really make a mainstream hit and not lose his voice? If this was anything to go by, it appeared that he could. Oh and it's a musical to boot.

Set during 1960s Baltimore, you've got the pleasantly plump Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake). While she exasperated her loving parents Edna (Divine) and Wilbur (Jerry Stiller), Tracy had a dream to appear on Corny Collins (Shawn Thompson) variety dance show. 

Tracy didn't have to try very hard because she managed to get her dream to come true and bitchy rival, Amber Von Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick) couldn't derail her. Then again, neither could Amber's awful parents Franklin (Sonny Bono) and Velma (Debbie Harry) and they certainly wanted to.

Tracy became such an instant hit on The Corny Collins Show that she got Amber's former boyfriend, Lincoln "Link" Larkin (Michael St. Gerard) as her new dance partner and boyfriend and booked a modelling contract from Hefty Hideaway's Mr Pinky (Alan Wendl). Aside from put into special ed for her hair, everything was going in Tracy's favour.

On top of that the presence of Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs (Ruth Brown) and her son, Seaweed (Clayton Prince) brought up the issue of integration versus segregation. Most of the characters were for integration with only Amber, her parents and WZZT station manager Arvin Hodgepile (Divine) being against the idea.

There's a nice love story between Seawood and Tracy's best friend, Penny Pingleton (Leslie Ann Powers), although the latter's mother, Prudence (Jo Ann Havrilla) tried to put a stop to it but love conquered all as did the majority of Baltimore wanting integration. Even a spell in reform school couldn't stop Tracy from getting one up on Amber as well.

- This was Divine's last role. He passed away around the release of the movie.

- John Waters had a rather amusing role as Dr. Fredrickson. Toussaint McCall appeared as himself. Mink Stole popped up as Tammy and Josh Charles as Iggy.

- Standout music: Hairspray, I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song) and Nothing Takes The Place Of You.

- Chronology: 1962 and 1963, Baltimore, Maryland.

Hairspray (1988) was a joy from start to finish. A fun musical with some great numbers, a few nice love stories and a good exploration into the changing times and importance of society also changing for the better.

Rating: 8 out of 10